Stars
by iuvui
Summary: Modern college AU, DN. Daine is a student who's really into astronomy and Numair is an astrophysics grad student and TA. Pulled this up mostly written from who kows when! Maybe just a two shot but most likely will be longer.
1. Chapter 1

Daine grumbled to herself, scowling while on her tiptoes. Straining her arm as far as it could go, she gave a little hop. She still couldn't reach that elusive book. _Who do they make shelves this tall for? And I'm not even short; I'm average. Heck, I'm a bit taller than average!_ Looking around, Daine saw that there still wasn't anyone else around. Few people wandered this far into the Astronomy section of the library.

There was only one thing she could try. Deciding it was safe to do what could potentially get her banned from the library for life, Daine looked around for the thickest books she could find. Gathering them in her arms, she carried them back to the spot she was at and set it down. Dumped her bag on the ground next to it, she neatened up the stack and squatted down to take off her boots.

"Um, what are you doing?"

Daine fell back in surprise. Frowning, she whirled around to face the voice at the end of aisle. Catching his abashed stare, she blushed furiously and huffed in frustration. No one was there a second ago!Giving her a confused yet still disapproving look, he raised a brow as she stayed silent.

"Well. You can probably guess, now can't you?" Daine said, gesturing wildly at the high shelves and hiding her embarrassment with a scowl. Zipping her boot back up, she stood herself up, shaking her scowl off with a half smile as he snorted and started chuckling, confusion giving way to amusement.

He shifted his many books to one arm. Gesturing a the top shelf, he asked "So, which one do you want?"

"The _Introduction to the Sun and Stars_. The mostly black one. Next to that… other black one I guess."

"Oh, I've read that one," he said, immediately picking out the right one. Daine straightened out her shirt as she watched him easily reach it. _So, the shelves are made for storks like him… What is he, 6'5"? 6'6"?_

Daine took the book with a smile. "Thanks," she said. Remembering his initially disapproving look, she hastily tried explain the initial situation. "There wasn't anyone else here and I honestly couldn't think of any other way; I wouldn't have done it if there was any other option! I hate when others misuse books, truly! And there weren't any chairs when I first walked in-"

"It's fine! At least you were taking your shoes off I guess…" Numair slightly shook his head with a wry smile. Gesturing to the book he asked, "Are you taking astronomy? I don't know any professors who use that book."

Daine shook her head. "No, it's just for fun. The lectures coincided with one of my major's required classes so I couldn't take it. I really, _really_ want to study astronomy though, so I figured I might as well learn some more in my free time!"

"Did you read this one then?" He grabbed another tome off the shelf. "It's a bit older but covers far more topics. I started with this and then focused on whatever I found interesting."

"Oh did you study astronomy then?" she asked, taking the book he offered.

"I actually minored in it. I'm a research assistant at an astrophysics lab here too and I do some other work in the department."

Daine looked up from the book she had begun leafing through. "That's neat! What type of research are you doing?"

"I'm mostly working on finding new galaxies and studying their formation and maturation, but the lab's also looking for other inhabitable planets and examining dark matter and other... stuff."

"I just saw a paper on that! I didn't understand very much," Daine laughed. "Are you using redshift or something too? I remember they mentioned that but I didn't really get what it was."

"A redshift is basically the Doppler effect on light. So the further away a light source is, in this case galaxies, the more the shift increases. We use it to track galaxies' movements away from here. So yes we do use it! Which paper was it, by the way?"

"I only glanced at it, but I think it was published here sometime this year? It was pretty recent."

His face broke into a boyish smile. "I think that might have been mine! I'm Numair Salmalín, by the way."

Daine recognized the name. "It _was_ your paper then! Sorry I didn't understand it at all, but it seemed great! I'm Daine," she said, flustered. _An actual astro-nerd, nice… But that was his paper, wow did I have to mention that paper when I didn't understand any of it?! What were the chances of that? Well, that was idiotic._

"Nice to meet you, Daine," he replied, grin still in place. "And don't worry; there were some astronomy grads that didn't get it either. But I'm a TA for one of my research mentor's beginning classes, so if you can't go to the lecture maybe you can come to the discussions? You could just sit in once a week whenever and we review what happened in lecture so you'd get the gist of it. And if you have any questions in your self-studying I'd be more than happy to help!"

Daine looked up at him, surprised. _This is great!_ "I could do that? Really? You wouldn't get into trouble or anything?"

He laughed. "No, not at all! You wouldn't have to take the quizzes or anything either so that's a plus."

Daine grinned up at him. "That would be wonderful!"

"Alright then, why don't you just give me your number or email or something?" Numair tried to pull his phone out from his back pocket, struggling to keep a hold on his books. He, however, failed. Daine leapt forward to stop the upcoming avalanche of books, managing to catch a few.

"Hawking, huh?" She mentioned, reading the titles of the books she held.

"Ah, yes. He's truly a genius," Numair handed her his phone.

Daine took it with a smile, "I haven't even started on his work!" She punched in her phone number. "Mind if I text myself?" _Onua would never let me live it down if I gave away my number to a stranger with no number in return… Oh, the lectures I'd hear._

"No go ahead," he waited patiently. Daine texted a quick 'hi' to her number and handed back the phone just as it started to buzz.

He took it with a glance at the time on his screen. "I should get going. I'll see you in class? It's either Thursday or Friday… Just check the registrar."

"Alright thank you! I'll be there!" Numair waved bye with another grin and disappeared behind the aisles. Daine picked up the large books she'd collected and balanced her other stuff on top. _Yes, astronomy here I come!_


	2. Chapter 2

That Friday Daine made her way up the stairs to the Physics building. Pushing the doors open with her hip, she checked the time on her phone's cracked screen. _Damn it, late on the first day?_ She speed walked down the hallway, checking room numbers along the way. Stopping in front of the right one she silently opened the door and slipped in. Numair, who was leaning against the front table taking roll, looked up at her entrance and threw her a smile. Returning it, Daine scanned the class for an empty seat, trying to get her breathing under control. _Of course I'd have to sit in the front._ Looking down at her feet to ignore the stares following her from the other students, Daine walked across the front of the room to a desk in the corner, left empty due to it's unwanted location right next to the instructor's desk, and settled down.

Once attendance was over, Numair started passing out various packets, talking as he did. "So, as the professor outlined in class, this course is meant to give you a simple understanding of our universe, some of the mechanics controlling it, and a little bit about the research being conducted to expand our current knowledge of it. Now, we know you aren't all certified astrophysicists with a complete understanding of all the calculus or particle physics required for upper division courses, so the topics covered will be conceptual," Daine shifted in her seat as she arranged her bag on the floor. _Gosh I'm out of shape._ Taking a deep breath to calm her still racing heart rate, she rested her chin in her hand, letting Numair's soft baritone put her to ease. "I'm handing out a few packets now; the white one is the syllabus. It will be online as well so if you don't want yours just leave it on the front table on your way out. The blue one is for next week's lectures. Fill it out as the professor's talking and it'll be a good way to review for the midterms." Daine smirked to herself as some of the other students sighed at the mention of tests. _Sucks to be them!_

Numair caught sight of her mirthful smile and snorted, shaking his head slightly. "It really won't be that bad. Just go to lecture, fill out your blue packets and make sure to ask any questions you may have. Which brings me to the next packet; the pink one is a set of resources you can use in case you're confused about something or want more information about a particular topic. There are a lot of websites but also a few articles and snippets from papers." He was at Daine's row now and handed her packets, motioning with his head to pass them back. _Guess I don't get one?_

Dumping the few remaining papers on his desk, Numair fell back into the swivel chair. "So, any questions from this week's lectures?"

* * *

"More questions?" He looked around at the sea of blank faces. "No?" He paused a moment with a light confused frown. "Well, I _think_ that's it… If there aren't any questions I guess you can leave early."

The response was immediate. The air was filled with the sound of papers crinkling, zippers being zipped, and desks creaking. Right when the first students were at the door, Numair's frown disappeared and he called out. "Wait, there will be three or four pop quizzes throughout the course, so although attendance isn't mandatory but if you miss one of those it will affect your grade." He gave a wicked grin as everyone paused and groans filled the air once more. "Have a good weekend!"

He turned his chair towards Daine who had remained seated, grin turning more boyish and mischievous. "I love saving that for last."

Daine laughed and leaned back into her seat. "Now, that's just plain mean!"

He snickered in return. Reaching over from the chair, he grabbed his bag and pulled out a set of papers from it. "So, here are your special packets. The blue one's all filled out and the pink one has some more information, mostly sections of the textbook that are kind of important as well as some more 'recommended reading' by yours truly on this sheet." The mischievous smile returned as he passed her the packets and waved around the last sheet of binder paper. "And this green sheet is a schedule of what each discussion will cover so you can skip the review sessions and whichever you aren't interested in."

Daine took them all with a smile. "Thank you again for letting me sit in; you really don't have to go through all this effort!"

"No, no it's nice to actually find someone genuinely interested in the field and not just here for the units. You'll see how many people ditch the next discussion."

 _That's debatable. The way half the students here were looking at him, hah no they'll be here._ A little snort escaped as she slipped the papers into her folder. "Hah, nevermind, that." She gathered her stuff up and pulled out her phone. "I have another class in twenty; got any idea where I can find… this class?" She pointed at her schedule on her phone.

He took it from her hand and angled it lower. "Yeah I can show you where that is! God how do you read anything on this…" He added quietly with brows raised. He handed back her phone and picked up his own things.

"Hah the skills and talents being broke 'gives' you." Daine replied. "My cat pushed my phone off of my desk last week right before rent was due. I swear she knew what she was doing too!" They walked out together and stepped into the late summer heat as he chuckled.

"My friend has a dog that I am pretty sure can tell the difference between weekends and weekdays; I believe anything about animals now."

"Animals are so much more than what we humans give them credit for. I'm an Animals Studies major and my Animal Behavior class is just teaching me so much more than I could ever imagine!"

"Animal Studies, huh? My friend with the dog is finishing up her Masters in that. I'll introduce you two sometime!" They turned a corner headed towards the uni's hub. "As for now, your class is in that brick building over there," he gestured to the side and slowed to a stop, hands in pockets.

"Oh thank you, Numair! And that would be wonderful!" She paused and readjusted the strap of her bag. Turning to face him, she squinted up at him with a little half smile. "I have to go print some things out before class."

Numair turned to her as well. "Do you know where the printers are? I could show you-"

"No, gosh no I've bothered you enough. I can figure out where they are!"

Numair threw her a care-free smile."You haven't bothered a bit. But alright then! Have a good weekend! I'll see you next week?"

"Yup! Same time next week! See you!" She waved him off and turned towards the computer lab. She sighed a happy little sigh to herself. _Astro is going to be great. Now, last class of the week, let's do this!_


End file.
